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C is for Centralla
C is for Centralia is the third story of 26 Frights of Freddy: The Tangled Soul. It was written by Dreams-N-Screams. Summary The story is an excerpt from a diary of a woman called Nicole Harris. She describes tapes her sister, Charisma sent her, of her and a friend exploring the woods to find the abandoned town of Centralia, for Charisma's journalism class. Story 11/1/2017 Dear Diary, Today has been wonderful, so far. We finally moved to our new home. Samantha was so excited, she ran all through the house laughing and giggling. The moving men arrived maybe ten minutes after we got to our house. We already have most of our furniture and boxes unloaded. I'm so very excited! I can't wait until we have everything unpacked. I just know everything is going to be so much bet- I think I just heard the doorbell...Brb maybe the moving men are back from lunch already. Diary...that was weird. When I got to the door- no one was there. There was just a small cardboard box with my name, Nicole Harris, on it. And just like that my happy mood is gone and I'm scared... what if it's from Sammy's father, Greg? What if he has found us already? I really hope not. I really don't want to open the box but my therapist told me, time and time again, I can't let fear control my life. After all, that's why I write to you...I'm going to open it. But, I better wait until Samantha goes to sleep. I don't need her seeing something bad and having more night terrors. 11/2/2017 Dear Diary, OMG!!! I opened the box; now I don't know what to do. I had to take two of my Valiums, just so I could write without shaking. It was worse than what I thought it was going to be, so much worse. I waited until Sammy fell asleep. I got out a box cutter and carefully opened the box. The whole time, I was certain it was something bad from Greg, Sammy's dad. It was not from Greg. Oh God, it was my GoPro … the same GoPro I loaned my sister, Charisma, a few weeks ago. It was scratched pretty badly and I wasn't sure if it was going to work. I had a million questions running through my mind, at that point. Why didn't Charisma bring it to me herself? Did I want to see what was on it, if anything? The only reason I knew it was my GoPro is because I had my initials etched into the bottom (I checked to make sure). I was so scared, but I remembered my therapist; I booted up my Surface, plugged the SD card in my card reader, and clicked on the first video. The first thing I saw was my sister and I was so confused, until I watched it. It was my sister! It was Charisma and, oh God, I'm scared. I'm heartbroken. Now, I don't know what I saw. It doesn't make sense. It's like something out of a nightmare, Samantha's nightmares, to be exact. It can't be real, can it? If it's real, then Charisma...she's...she's gone… I don't know what to do. If she's dead or missing...who sent me this? Was it her? It's so hard to believe some of the things I heard and witnessed on the videos. Now I don't know what to think. Oh Charisma, I love you so much! Did I tell you that, the last time I saw you? 11/3/2017 I've made up my mind. I'm going to do what I can to help. Maybe, she's still out there. Maybe she's ok. I'm going to write everything down that I see on the tape and I'm going to copy the SD card and send the videos to Isaac, through Dropbox. He’d know what to do (he is Charisma's best friend since Middle School and he has always been into all things horror). Hopefully, he will see it soon and maybe he can find her. I can't leave Samantha alone. I would go and look for Charisma myself, but I know that if something happens to me then Sammy will go to Greg, and that can't happen. I have no choice but hope that Isaac can help her. But, I'm also going to write everything that I saw in the videos, exactly like it happened, in here, so that if anything does happen-maybe someone will know the truth. Then, I'm turning this SD card over to the police. I doubt they will take it seriously, but I know my sister and she has always been truthful. I don't think she would do something like this to scare me. I'll do my best to transcribe what I saw and what happened on the videos. Video 1: (it appears to show Charisma in her room, as if making a vlog entry. She is a very pretty girl with light brown-almost blonde hair and green eyes. She has dimples and a cheerful smile) Hi! I'm Charisma Harris. I am sitting here at my desk, in my dorm room, recording the first part of hopefully what will be a very exciting documentary. Tomorrow, I am heading to Centralia, PA with Jason Collins, my partner and friend in my final Journalism class. I guess I should introduce myself a bit. Even though these notes are for me, you never know if someday I might be famous and this tape could be worth lots of money. Hahahaha (she can be heard giggling and the sound of it breaks my heart, knowing what's to come). Like I said, my name is Charisma Harris; my real first name is Catherine, but man that just sounds so stuck up and formal. I'm a pretty laid back girl. I love writing and I'm pretty nosy, I like to know the whole truth of a story. I think that's why I am becoming a journalist. I want to be the first one to find out the truth of a mystery that no one else can solve. This is my final paper for my Journalism class. So far I have the highest grade in class, but I want to keep it that way. Jason and I were allowed to choose any place and anything we wanted to write about. I chose Centralia because I love a good mystery. My best friend in High School, Isaac - he'd be so jealous that I was going without him. He always wanted to go. But, he chose Purdue and I chose Penn State. He's too far away from me to come along. Sad. Jason is a pretty good partner and a great friend. I think he may have a crush on me, but I'm just not worried about boys at this time in my life. I have my whole life to worry about boys and a family. Right now, I want to become the best journalist that I can. So about Centralia, it is a ghost town. It was once a coal mining town that had thousands of people living there. Today, I think, there's 7 people left. Why the drop in the population, you ask? Well, because back in 1962 a fire got started down in those mining tunnels under Centralia. No one really knows how it got started, but it's still going and its estimated that the fire could burn for another 250 years. Because of this, the area has all sorts of hazardous sinkholes and poisonous levels of carbon monoxide, in the smoke plumes. Did you know that in the 1980s a 12-year-old boy fell in a sinkhole in his backyard and was pulled out by his older cousin? Talk about lucky! After that, the population started dwindling and by 2009 Governor Ed Rendell of PA had ordered the entire town evacuated and demolished. A few people fought to stay there (they won in court after a long battle), so there's maybe four or five homes left in the whole town-but that's just an estimate. No one ever seems to really know the answer to how many people are really there. I intend to find out. Oh and one more thing, the town's first Catholic priest, Father Daniel Ignatius McDermott, cursed the land when he was beat up by a gang of Molly Maguires, a secret society of coal miners that wanted fair wages and better working conditions. He said that the only building that would be left standing would be the church. Wouldn’t you know it, he was right! I myself can't wait to go there, it's on my list, I’m so excited! I have a list of places in town I'd like to explore. The church, the cemetery by the church, the government building, and any houses that may still be left. You’re not prohibited from visiting the town, but it's not really recommended. The south part of Route 61 has been closed and is now called “Graffiti Highway” due to all the graffiti and the impassable state of the roads, so we need to enter the town from the West part of Route 61. That will take us right into the town proper and from there it's easy to navigate. Well, it's 10PM and I think I better get some sleep. We have an early morning coming and I'm not much of a morning person. I know Jason really isn't going to be happy either. Goodnight all. Video 2: (Now the GoPro is positioned on the dashboard, facing Charisma and Jason. Jason is a good looking man with dusty blonde hair and faint circles under his chocolate brown eyes. Jason is starting up his car and preparing to head out, on this rainy morning) C: Hello again! It's Charisma and Jason - say hello Jason! J: ugghh...hello...I'm not a morning person. Charisma, I'm all in for this trip- but we have got to stop for some coffee. C: Jason, we will, I promise! You should have gotten up a little earlier, I've already had like 3 cups. J: What?! And you didn't bring me any? C: I'm sorry, I really should have. I tell you what, let's stop at Sheetz and I'll buy you some, my treat. Ok. J: That sounds like a plan. C: (Charisma faces the camera) Hello again everyone, it's 7AM , October 30th, 2017. It's slightly rainy here and the sun has just come out. Jason needs some coffee and I was so excited, I didn't think to bring any. To recap: we're driving down I-80 to hit the west part of Route 61. It should only be a few hours at most. I'm super excited and Jason is, well, he'll be more excited once he gets some caffeine in him. Once we get to the town, I'll be back with more updates. No need to waste memory for the whole trip. Bye for now! (she reaches over to stop filming) Video 3: (Now the camera is mounted on a headband. Charisma is sitting in the passenger seat and looking forward, the car’s hood pulled up) C: We have a problem, we must have gotten lost. I don't know how because I had my GPS on the whole time… J: Charisma, there's something going on with the engine, come look! (Charisma gets up and leaves the car to join Jason, who is looking at the engine with a perplexed expression) C: Jason, how did that happen? I thought you said you just took your car in for maintenance! J: I did! But looks like there’s corrosion on the battery, I don't understand it. But the battery is dead and we need to jump it to be able to start the car back up. C: Jason, we're on an abandoned highway, I don't think there's any chance of anyone coming by for a while. Do you have any cell service? My phone has no reception at all here. J: No, none. I checked that first. C: Well, that's just great. Looks like we're walking it then. There are some people in the town, from what I heard. Maybe one of them will help, I hope. Maybe we'll get cell service by the time we get into town. J: Ok, well grab your backpack and the stuff you need. Guess we're going on a hike. C: Well, I suppose Jason and I have no choice but to walk to town now. Hopefully, we can find someone who can help us jump the car. I’m not going to let a car breakdown force me to miss out on finding out more about this place. I know one thing, we need to be extra careful walking through this forest. There's still sinkholes and fire. I really don't like this, but we don't have much of a choice. I really should have known something weird was going on when the regular road changed into a rainbow graffiti-colored road. J: Are you ready? I guess we better get going. At least it's not raining anymore. C: Good point. I see a bend here, let's go that way. From what I can see up ahead there's a bend and some forest. We should only be a few miles outside of town. If we walk steadily, it should only take us about 45 minutes or less to get into town. This really wasn't how I planned on things going down, but it's ok. I mean, it's just a forest, I doubt there's anything out here that we need to worry about. Maybe deer and I don't think they are going to hurt us. C: Wait! Jason do you see what this sentence says? (We are looking down and we see a sentence that says “THEY CAN'T HURT YOU IF YOU'RE LOOKING AT THEM"). J: WOW, that's creepy. I bet there are a lot of strange people that come here. It's probably nothing. Just someone trying to scare people. C: Yep, you're probably right. I mean, it doesn't even make sense anyways. Right there is where we need to go. (They are entering the forest and are mostly silent; you mostly hear sounds of footsteps crunching on leaves and twigs every once in a while) C: We are now in the middle of the forest, we have come to the top of what looks like to be a little hill. I still see so many trees, but I think I can see the spire of a church, maybe a few miles ahead. So, we are definitely going the right way. It's very pretty out here. It's fall, so it's a bit nippy but the leaves are so pretty. Everything is orange, gold, red. Just very beautiful. It's hard to believe that no one lives here and even harder to believe that there's a fire burning right… (suddenly the camera swivels around quickly) What was that?! Jason, did you see that? (camera now faces him) J: What? I didn't see anything, what did you see? C: I could have sworn I saw something… purple… in the corner of my eye? You really didn't see anything? (Jason raises an eyebrow) Oh come on Jason, don't give me that look. J: Charisma, don't freak yourself out. I'm sure it was nothing. Maybe a bird or something… C: A purple bird? No, it wasn't a bird. I know I saw something. But, now that you mention it, I don't hear anything. No birds, no noises. Should it be this quiet in the forest? J: I really don't know. I'm not much of a hiker. This is the first time I've even been out in the woods since I was a kid. Look, I'm sure it was nothing. You're probably just getting a little tired. We have been walking about a half hour now. I'm sure everything is ok. C: Yeah you're right. I'm just getting tired. I think I'm going to stop filming for a little while. Just till we get to the town. If I'm right, we should get to the cemetery first, then the town. Video 4: (Camera is still mounted on Charisma's head and there's a broken-down black gate and what looks to be a dilapidated cemetery behind it) C: We have finally made it to the cemetery, I'm pretty sure Jason and I got turned around a couple of times. I think the walk that was only supposed to be 30 mins, or less, ended up being about two hours. It's almost 1pm now. (Jason makes a sound and the camera swivels to the left) C: What? J: Try almost 2:30. C: How is that possible? How did we lose time like that? J: I don't know but I can tell you, I have a watch on , its almost 2:30. (Jason holds his arm up and his watch comes into clear view, sure enough it is 2:26). C: Your watch has to be wrong. There is no way that it's been three and half hours, that we've been walking around in the woods. J: I don't know, I've never had problems with my watch, but then again, I've never had trouble with my car or cell phone either. I really think it's this town. C: Maybe… (They are quiet for a minute and you can now see the broken-down gate right in front of them). C: Well, we are here. It's taken longer than I wanted, but at least now we can actually look at a place that I've wanted to check out. J: Be careful, there's some pieces of the fence sticking out of the ground here. C: Ok, I see it. Well, while I'm here, let's have a little recap about this cemetery. This is Odd Fellows Cemetery, I can tell because of pictures I've seen online. I thought we were heading to SS Paul and Peter cemetery, but somehow, we got turned around. Which makes no sense because we would have had to cross the road. But, here we are. This cemetery is actually right next to the landfill, the landfill is an important spot because they speculate that that is where the underground fire started in 1962. So, I'm glad we are here, even if I didn't mean to go this way...Hey , where did Jason go? Jason? ...Jason? (The view changes from left to right, over and over, and you can tell that Charisma is walking faster) C: Jason? Seriously?! Quit playing around! This isn't funny! Jason! Dammit, Jason! J: Hey! (Charisma shrieks) J: I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to scare you! While you were talking I went to get a better look at the one tombstone over there (he points to the left and front of cemetery) and I thought I saw something… well…(he stops talking and just stares at Charisma). C: What? What did you see? (Jason mumbles and looks away) C: What? J: I think I saw something big and red and possibly...furry...and possibly with a pirate eye patch… (Charisma busts out laughing. Jason looks at her with a irked expression. She seems to notice this and quiets down, quickly.) C: You’re serious? You aren't messing with me right now? J: No, I'm not kidding. Look, I don't know how you're going to give me a hard time, when the whole time we were in the forest, you kept saying you saw something purple! C: Good point...it's just...well... I have no idea what's going on. First, we end up on a road we weren't traveling on, then the car breaks down, then we have no service. I kept seeing stuff and we got lost in the woods for hours. I just, I really have no damn idea what's going on right now! And honestly, it's starting to freak me out! (At this point Charisma goes quiet and walks over and sits on a broken stone. Jason walks over to where she is sitting. The camera shifts a bit, so I think he put his arm around her.) J: Hey, it's ok. I think we are both just tired and a little frustrated. I'm sure I'm just imagining stuff. Didn't you say that there is carbon monoxide in the smoke plumes? Maybe we're just hallucinating a little bit, or something. C: Yeah, I guess you're right. It's possible. It's just that I don't believe in supernatural stuff and all this weird stuff is happening. In high school, my best friend was crazy about horror stuff. I just never could believe anything like that. I've always believed that there's a rational explanation for everything, ya know. J: I'm the same way, so yes, I know. Come on, let's get out of here. It's starting to get late and we need to find someone before it's dark. C: Yeah, you're right. I'm pretty sure I know how to get to the town, well what used to be the town, from here. Online it showed a few houses; hopefully, someone’s home. J: Ok, let's go. Video 5: (We now see a view of what looks to be some paved road in the middle of a big field, with a few trees scattered about. One house is standing on the left side of our view, not too far away) C: Well, we finally made it into town. I know I saw pictures of this online, but when you're here it's just, wow, it's just so vacant looking. So empty. It's like someone came and paved a road in the middle of the wilderness. There's so much trash everywhere. People's stuff. It's so sad. We still see a little bit of graffiti in places, too. You know, there was a mark of graffiti that said “Don't take your eyes off of them”. Another one, just like the one we saw on Route 61. I don't know, there must be some weird people that come out here. Jason and I are heading to that house up there on the left. There's cars in the driveway, so we are hoping someone is home. Someone has to have a phone or jumper cables, maybe. J: Hey looks like there's 2 cars in the driveway. I hope these people are friendly. C: Me too. Let's go knock. (We see a yellow, two-story house with a chain link fence around it. Two cars sit in the small driveway). C: Ok , let's knock. (Jason knocks a few times and waits. There's no sound at all. The camera view moves left to right). C: Knock again, maybe a little louder? J: Ok. I wish someone would answer. (Jason knocks 3 times in a row. No noise, nothing.) C: Well, I guess no one is here. Damn! Want to walk up to the church over there on the hill? Jason? (Jason is looking through the glass on the wooden door). C: Jason??? J: uhh, oh, yeah - let's walk up to the church. C: Well, I guess I'm going to turn this off one more time. Trying to save memory for the SD card, for when we can actually explore. Video 6 (Final): (We see a set of steps going up a small hill. At the top of the hill is a huge white Gothic looking church with a blue spire sitting on top. It looks like it's starting to get dark now). C: Well, it's dusk now...and if that's not the creepiest looking church I have ever seen...I don't know what is. J: It is pretty freaky looking, honestly. C: Still want to go up there? J: Yeah, I mean it's a church. What's the worst that can happen in a church? C: You're right. Let's go. They walk up the steps and you know see them pushing open a big wooden door. It's quiet here too. C: Oh. My. God. (Charisma's head turns left to right and we can see what appears to be upside-down crosses, 13 on each side of the church walls. She takes a step back-Jason grabs her arm to halt her and suddenly, we hear the sound of a man clearing his throat). Man: mhhhmmh.. Hello… (Charisma looks to the left and we see a short, round looking man. He looks like he's a priest, but I noticed he had a black clerical collar instead of a white one.) C: Hi, um..I'm so sorry. We were, well, we were just leaving. (The man looks around and gives a light chuckle.) Man: I'm so sorry about this, young lady, seems someone came in and vandalized the church. I was just getting ready to go call the cops. Are you sure there is nothing I can help you with? C: Well, um.. J: Yes! We need to really use the phone. Do you have a phone we can use? (The camera turns very quickly towards Jason. I can hear Charisma say something under her breath, but Jason just shakes his head at her. ) Man: Well of course! There's no phone here but we do have a landline next door. Please, follow me. (The man turns and goes toward the front door and it seems that Charisma is shuffling her feet or slowing down. I'm almost certain she's thinking about making a run for it. I don't think she believes the man's story, and neither did I. But, I know she won't leave Jason behind. Jason, on the other hand, seems eager to follow the man.) (We go outside and see that we are walking to the right, which would be the left of the building. When she turns around the corner, I see that there is a building, almost right behind the church. It has a billboard on the front that says “Chica’s Party World” on it and what looks be a picture of a pizza and their main mascot.) J: Chica, huh? Looks more like a duck, don't you think? C: Seriously? Jason, it's obviously a chicken! You can't tell the difference between a duck and a chicken?! (Jason shuts up pretty quickly and no one is talking as they walk towards the dark building. It is almost completely dark outside now. Charisma's head turns towards the right and we see, what looks to be in red or black more graffiti it says “They can't get you if you look at them.”) (We have now reached CPW and we see the “priest” pull out a key ring with lots of old antique looking keys on it.) Man: Here we are now. All we need to do is go in, turn on the lights and I'll take you to the office. You can make your calls from there. J: Thank you so much, Sir. Man: No problem at all. (We walk down a hall and see all sorts of party decorations lining the walls. It looks to be a kids birthday party place.) Man: Here we are. You guys go right on ahead and make the calls. I need to go to the supply closet and get some supplies to clean up some graffiti, that someone sprayed on the back of the church. J: Ok, great sir. We won't be long. (the man turns to leave, but Jason suddenly calls out) J: Oh by the way, I didn’t get your name. I’m Jason and this is Charisma. Man: Charisma? Such a beautiful name. I’m Father Meisberger. I must get going now; God bless you all. (The man leaves and as soon as he does Charisma is talking to Jason in a hushed whisper as they enter the office.) C: What has gotten into you? Do you really believe him? Who is he and what was that about, it was the same sentence we saw on the graffiti highway. I don't like this, why did you tell him we needed to use a phone? (Jason is facing away reaching for the landline, and replies back in a hushed whisper too.) J: Look, I'm not sure if the guy is telling the truth, or not. But, we really need to get out of this town and we need to get back to that car. There is no way we can do that without help. I'd rather call the police and get help, instead of asking this guy if he has jumper cables and getting stuck in a vehicle alone with him. Also, I need to tell you something… back at that house I saw blood everywhere inside. I didn't want to freak you out. I'm sorry, I should have said something sooner. (Charisma starts to reply but Jason cuts her off.) J: What the hell? There's no dial tone. Nothing. (As soon as he is done speaking the lights cut off. Charisma had to have turned on the Night Mode on the GoPro because now everything has a green tinge to it and we can see Jason.) J: This isn't good. We need to get out of here, now. (We start hearing what sounds like some kind of garbled static. The camera turns towards the sound and we see… well I don't know what it was. It looks like a metal skeleton, with a pink and white face and long white teeth, and it's hanging from the ceiling. Also, it has two heads. Whats even creepier is Samantha has described this thing to me before. She has had nightmares of the same kind of creature, before. All of a sudden, it screeches and lunges at Jason. Blood sprays everywhere and some flecks of it splattered on the screen.) J: Charisma! Go! C: No! I can't leave you! (The camera is moving wildly back and forth left to right). J: Go! Now! Go get help! (We see Jason is trying to fight this… thing… off but there is so much dark blood everywhere. Charisma takes off running.) C: Oh my God! Oh my God! What was that?! I should have helped, I don't know what to do! (She is sobbing as she runs. I notice she runs by a doorway and it looks like there is a huge bunny standing there). (Charisma has run into a hallway and she's at a dead end. There are two doors; she runs to one and jiggles the handle. Pounds on it three times, no luck. She runs to the other door with the same result. The GoPro is shaking wildly. It slides up and down and I realized Charisma had now taken it off. We see her for the first time in a while, tears streaming down her face.) C: I don't know what has happened here. I don't know who that man was or if Jason's ok. I should have stayed. I couldn't find the doorway out. If something happens to me, Nicole - I love you and Samantha so very much. I'm so sorry. Please, if you see this, tell Isaac he's the best friend ever. Do not come look for me! I know Samantha needs you. Isaac, I'm so glad you didn't come here with me. There's so much I want to say and I know there's not enough time. That thing - it will get me. I know it and I have nowhere else to run. I (she looks left) oh my gosh, I just saw a… a chicken. Was that Chica? I don't know. I have to keep looking… I have to keep… The video cuts out here and there's nothing else on it. I don't know what to think. I pray that Charisma is ok. What I need to do, is find Isaac.